Jithin K Mohan
With a huge production for the time and being extremely faithful to the source material, there is little to distinguish this from a stage play and the actors don't help in that matter either. From the actors being too old for the roles, there are a lot of factors that make this very dated.
TheLittleSongbird
I do love Shakespeare, as I do Romeo and Juliet. Of the other three versions I loved Zeffirelli's but was underwhelmed by Luhrmann's. This version is good and in between the two for me. It boasts handsome costumes and sets, the cinematography is gorgeous and the whole film is beautifully directed by George Cukor. The story is compelling and moving still, and the writing likewise, though one or two speeches could have been delivered a little slower. The music also is charming and wonderfully romantic in places. Of the cast I did get more pleasure of the supporting turns more than the leads. Though the leads certainly weren't bad. Leslie Howard is perhaps too mature and lacks Romeo's boyish passion but he does at least have a grasp of the style. Norma Shearer starts off a little shaky, coming across as too "giddy" on her first appearance(was it an attempt to show some girlish naivety?) but she is very moving from that point on and exudes good chemistry with Howard. John Barrymore also was a point of controversy, true he is a little too insidycratic in places but as Mercutio overall he is delicious and steals his scenes. The best turns though come from Edna May Oliver as a warm and humorous Nurse and the wonderfully oily Tybalt of Basil Rathbone. Ralph Forbes does what he can, though the role of Paris is rather thankless. All in all, a good version. 7/10 Bethany Cox
Steffi_P
Although there were a number of silent versions of Shakespeare plays, and the first direct screen adaptation of his work was in 1929 with the (incidentally very entertaining) Fairbanks/Pickford Taming of the Shrew, it wasn't until the mid-1930s that Hollywood really set its sights on the Immortal Bard™. The industry had emerged triumphant from the coming of sound, the worst years Depression and the enforcement of the production code, and now was the time to scale new heights.Now, Shakespeare was great, and 30s Hollywood was also great, but in a very different way. The two were not entirely incompatible, but there was certainly a lot of scope to get things wrong. And one of the worst things to go wrong in this particular example is casting. A year earlier Warner Brothers had thrown decorum to the winds and simply lined up their usual rogues gallery of wisecrackers for a wild and surprisingly effective edition of A Midsummer Night's Dream. MGM however seemed keener to preserve a sense of theatrical propriety and chose actors for their credentials and experience.Experience comes with age, and that is really the biggest single problem with these two star-crossed lovers. Norma Shearer gives a powerful and emotionally realistic performance, but she has the demeanour of a woman who has seen a bit of life, as opposed to a girl embarking on her first romance. Lesley Howard would actually make quite a good Romeo, he has the right honest bearing and simple handsomeness, but really he would have to be at least ten years younger. One might argue that if their acting is strong enough, surely we can stretch the imagination a little and overlook their years. This can and does work in some pictures (for example Anne Bancroft only being a little older than Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate), but for Romeo and Juliet it essential that we get that impression of flighty, passionate young lovers whose eventual demise is a tragic waste of life.But there is worse yet than Shearer and Howard. The very acme of bad casting is here represented by John Barrymore as Mercutio. Don't get me wrong, Barrymore is comically eccentric, but Mercutio is supposed to be a sly young rake, not some jolly middle-aged lecher. And remember the character was named after his mercurial temperament (meaning quickly changing mood), yet Barrymore is just incessantly merry. Mercutio's greatest moment – the Queen Mab speech – is reduced to a wittering ramble. Another mistake of the casting couch was Andy Devine as Peter the servant. Devine is funny, and could even have been an asset in a Shakespearean comedy, but he is not right here. There are meant to be a few laughs in Romeo and Juliet, but not from some inept twerp. His inclusion in the opening brawl (the lines he speaks here belong to another character) is ridiculous, and sets absolutely the wrong tone.This was an Irving Thalberg production, and Thalberg was probably the finest of the old-style producers, having a real knack for putting together the right team and then graciously leaving them to it. It's unlike him to make so many blunders with principle casting, but at least he got a decent crew. George Cukor was a good choice for director, as he was already the best when it came to stage-to-screen adaptations. He fills the earliest scenes with all sorts of bustle and background movement, then makes everything simplified and stripped down as the drama intensifies, focusing everything on the performers. William Daniels's cinematography is stunning, rich in light and shadow, the standout being the dance scene in which Howard is crisply black and Shearer shimmering white, with the background figures a wash of grey. Even on the acting front it's not all bad. Edna May Oliver is spot-on as the nurse, with her almost guttural delivery complementing the character's lewdness. And Basil Rathbone gives a calm, calculated performance, keeping all Tybalt's aggression simmering below the surface.It was around this time that Laurence Olivier claimed Shakespeare could never work on screen, saying, "The shot is too big for the cannon". Of course, he would soon swallow his words and become the foremost actor, director and producer of Bard movies. His statement was born from the snobbishness of a naïve young theatre devotee, but one can't help thinking that such lukewarm offerings as this Romeo and Juliet only served to back up his opinion.
caymancic
anything with LH and I am happy. First leading man I had a crush on.Does anyone know the name of the music that Juliet makes her entrance. Not the dance or the love theme. the one the troupe of little boys sing. In my head and making me nuts.Anyway, it was a big movie. Not that fond on NS but she does well. How do you fit WS in a hour and a half? Worth watching. Besides until the FZ film R & J were never played by youths. Felt a mere youth could not find the emotional range. bla bla bla Love them both and plan on buying the black and white version.enjoyHollywood did not make great films about great plays very often. caydj
